Synthesis of Colloidal Carbon Spheres by Hydrothermal Carbonization of Glucose at Different Initial pH

In this paper, carbon spheres with different size distributions are obtained by hydrothermal carbonization of glucose via varying the reaction conditions including concentration of glucose solution, hydrothermal reaction time and the initial pH values of solutions. The initial pH values of glucose solutions play an important role in the size distribution of the carbon spheres. The formation and growth mechanisms of carbon spheres at different initial pH levels are discussed and proposed.